Someone is anonymously calling out snow shovel scofflaws on Twitter

What we’re talking about

In this 2015 file photo, Adam Earley digs out a sidewalk in Portland after a blizzard dumped snow on the city. (Troy R. Bennett | BDN)

Citizen snow police crackdown over social media— Someone has taken to social media to try to shame fellow residents into shoveling their sidewalks. The anonymous Twitter account, @Perambulate_ME, has been tweeting photos and addresses of houses that haven’t cleared their sidewalks since Monday’s moderate snowfall. On Wednesday, @CityPortland tweeted back encouraging the citizen snow police to formally report uncleared sidewalks and moments later several of the icy offenders had been logged on the “Fix It!” portion of the city website.

People who don’t clear their sidewalks can be billed if city contractors have to show up and do it for them. Residential property owners must clear the sidewalks within 24 hours of the last snowfall, while commercial properties have 12 hours. During the winter of 2014-2015, a city spokeswoman told the Press Herald that the bills for city snow removal typically run from $200 to $500.

I originally wrote that city workers clear unshoveled snow, but it’s actually hired help. My bad. — Jake Bleiberg

No state money for Portland elementary renovations — The state denied an 11th-hour plea from city leaders to make an exception to its normal funding procedure and pay to renovate two of Portland’s aging elementary schools, the Press Herald’s Noel Gallagher reported.

Reiche and Longfellow elementary schools were near the top of Maine’s list of needy schools when the state’s most recent round of school funding closed in September. City leaders were hoping the state would pay to renovate the schools despite the late date, but the Maine Board of Education said Wednesday that it couldn’t break the rules for Portland.

The city can re-apply, but it will take the state two years to create the next list of schools up for funding. In the meantime, the city leaders continue to consider borrowing up to $70 million on the bond market to renovate four elementary schools, including Reiche and Longfellow. — Jake Bleiberg

I never met photographer Mason Philip Smith. I wish I had, but it’s too late now.

A sudden heart attack took him away on Nov. 25, at the age of 83, at his home in Cape Elizabeth. It was quick. He died in the arms of his wife, Barbara. They were married for 56 years.

For three decades, Smith ran a commercial photography studio on the third floor of Mechanics Hall on Congress Street. He shot countless senior portraits, hundreds of weddings and the first color photographs to appear in the L.L. Bean catalog.

I didn’t know Smith, but I did know of him. You couldn’t be a photographer in this town and not be aware of him. He was everywhere, a photographic chameleon who could shoot anything from architecture to food to street portraits. He adapted his style to fit the job at hand, letting the subject shine for itself rather than muting it under his own vision.

About Dan MacLeod

Dan MacLeod is the editor of BDN Portland. He's an Orland native who first moved to Portland in 2002. He's been a journalist since 2008, and previously worked for the New York Post and the Brooklyn Paper.
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